When you’ve been sent some bottles of refreshing Grace Foods Aloe Drink to try and you want explore what you can do with it, apart from enjoy drinking it, then what else can you do, except make a deliciously moist and tasty cake?

Well, this is exactly what happened recently and exactly what I did. So, read on, get your apron on, your ingredients out and enjoy some time in the kitchen before tucking into a slice (or two) of this deliciously moist cake.

Bake for 65-70 minutes until the cake has just started to shrink from the edges of the tin and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the thickest part of the cake.

Allow to cook in the tin for 5 minutes, whilst you make the glaze.

In a small saucepan, heat the caster sugar and Aloe Vera Drink until boiling, then reduce the heat to a rolling boil and the syrup has reduced by half.

Using your skewer, make a series of small holes in the flat surface of the cake and slowly spoon half of the glaze over the cake, allowing it to soak in fully.

Invert the tin onto a wire cooking rack and prick the top with your skewer all over then, gently and slowly spoon the other half of your glaze over the top of the cake, again allowing it to soak in fully.

Leave the cake to cool completely.

Mix together the Aloe Vera Drink and mango purée, then sieve the the icing sugar into it, mixing thoroughly until you get a thickish icing.

Gently pour the icing over the top of the cake, allowing it to drizzle down the outside edge and into the centre hollow.

You can find mango purée and coconut milk in the international food aisle of your local supermarket. I tend to use my Kenwood Major Titanium stand mixer to make cakes in if it involves beating the mixture for several minutes as it leaves me to get on with setting up the next stage of my preparation. If it’s something that only needs a very quick mix, then I use my Kenwood K-Mix hand mixer instead.

Grace Foods sent me some bottles of their Aloe Refresh Aloe Vera Drinks to sample. I was under no obligation to develop any recipes or provide a review of their products in return for these drinks.

Wow! That’s a mouthful of a recipe title for sure! However, it does tell you exactly what’s in the cookies I made, doesn’t it?

Inspired by the original recipe by the finalist of the Great British Bake Off, Holly Bell, which is incredibly versatile and can easily be altered, depending on your mood and fancy. Last night, I decided to go a little Persian with some wonderfully fragrant Nielsen Massey Rosewater, some delicious green pistachios from Sainsbury’s, along with some cranberry & blueberry mix which I’d bought from Holland and Barratt and some creamy chunks of Callebeaut white chocolate. The recipe made about 21 cookies (I forgot to count before we started eating them, still slightly warm from the oven, sorry!)

250g Butter, room temperature

150g Soft brown sugar

1½tsp Nielsen Massey Rosewater

150g Self Raising flour

230g Quaker Porridge Oats

100g Cranberry & Blueberry mix

100g White chocolate chunks

100g Pistachios, chopped

Preheat your oven to 160ºC.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (I used 4 baking sheets and baked them in pairs).

Cream the butter and sugar, along with the rosewater until light and fluffy. (I was watching The Fall on BBC iPlayer as I was baking, can you tell?!) It’s much easier to use a hand mixer when creaming your butter and sugar, and I use my Kenwood K-Mix one.

The summer is at an end, the nights are drawing in and it’s getting darker slightly earlier each evening. You can see the leaves turning their amazing hues of yellow, gold and red almost in front of your eyes, and there’s a distinct nip in the air to be felt. Shortly we’ll be putting our clocks back and that will signify the real start of the dark nights ahead until the promise of spring joins us once more.

At this time of year, what better meal to enjoy then a hearty Cottage Pie? Good quality, lean minced beef. Thick and delicious gravy enrobing the meat, topped off with a delightful, buttery soft mashed potato. It’s not a pretty dish for the eyes to behold, but it sure is a tasty one! Am I making you hungry yet?

I used 5% lean Angus Steak mince from Lidl and British grown Albert Bartlett potatoes (which I love for their taste and light, fluffy texture when cooked. Both of which have the Red Tractor mark of quality. To enjoy a meal as tasty as this, you’ll need:

15ml Rapeseed oil

1 large red onion, chopped

500g Lean minced beef

1 Knorr onion gravy pot

200ml Boiling water

50ml Red wine

10ml Worcester sauce

10ml Dried parsley

Salt & Pepper to season

4 Large Adrian Bartlett Potatoes, peeled & cut into 2-3cm pieces

100g Butter, cubed

Heat your oven to 200℃.

Gently heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion until soft, but not browned.

Add the mince and cook until browned.

Mix the stock pot with the boiling water, red wine and Worcester sauce, then add this to the mince along with the parsley.